Airtight cover releasers for containers



Aug. 2, 1955 D. M. ZlVANOW AIRTIGHT COVER RELEASERS FOR CONTAINERS Filed Oct. 28, 1954 qwamozz Mzwanow imitrge ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,714,467 AJRTIGHT COVER RELEASERS FOR CONTAINERS Dimitrije M. Zivanow, New York, N. Y. Application October 28, 1954, Serial No. 465,286 4 Claims. (Cl. 220-43) This invention relates to containers such as, for example, shoe poli'sh cans, and the main object is the provision of a new and improved airtight cover lifter or releaser to permit of easy and quick loosening of the cover so that it may be lifted. from the can with a minimum of effort.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a cover releasing attachment on the cover of the can, which is completely airtight and thus preserves the contents of the can from drying out while the cover is closed down on the can.

The above broad as well as additional and more specific objects will be clarified in the following description wherein characters of reference refer to like-numbered parts in the accompanying drawing. It is to be noted that the drawing is intended solely for the purpose of illustration and that it is therefore neither desired nor intended to limit the invention necessarily to any or all of the exact details of construction shown except insofar as they may be deemed essential to the invention.

Referring briefly to the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a shoe polish can embodying the features of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the same, with parts broken away and partly in section through the cover releasing attachment.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary enlargement of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing the releasing lever in tilted position wherein it releases the cover.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 10 indicates the body of a shoe polish can and the numeral 11 the cover or lid thereof. The body 10 is usually provided with a circumferential bead 12 on which the rim 13 of the cover rests, that is, the rim of the wall or apron 14 of the cover.

An opening 15 is provided through the apron 14, which opening may have the form of an upright ellipse. A unitary housing 16 comprises a portion 17 which lies outside the apron 14 and a portion 18 which projects through the opening 15 and has the end thereof positioned within the confines of the apron. The housing may be provided with a shoulder 19 between the portions 17 and 18, so that the portion 18 is reduced in cross-section, to insert the latter through the opening, and the opposed vertical walls of the latter may moreover diverge outward on their outer sides, substantially as shown. In any event, the housing 16 is mounted in the opening 15 in an airtight manner and is rigid with the apron, the mounting being achieved in any suitable way, as by stamping or by the aid of solder.

The housing 16 is hollow and, for the sake of compactness and appearance, is of a generally rounded conformation on the outside of the outer portion 17. The

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hollow housing 16 encloses a recess 26 having opposed vertical walls 20, a substantially horizontal floor 21, and a sloping flat ceiling 22, the rear wall of the recess being rounded at 23. The ceiling 22 slopes upward toward the portion 18, that is, to the left, Fig. 3.

A tongue 24 having approximately the thickness of the recess 26, that is, the distance between. the walls 20, and its rear end is rounded complementarily to the rear end 23' of the recess. The width of the tongue 24 is approximately constant and equal approximately to the diameter of the rounded rear end thereof or of the rounded rear end of the recess; thus the tongue is adapted to swing from the position shown in Fig. 3 wherein its upper edge registers against the ceiling. 22 and that shown in Fig. 4 and even. beyond the latter to a position. wherein its lower edge registers against the floor 21 of the recess. The free end of the tongue is cut off at an angle to provide the edge 26 which lies flush with the rim of the housing portion 18 when the tongue is in its upper extreme position. The lower front end of the tongue may be considered as a nose, indicated by the. reference numeral 25.

Near it's rounded end 27 the tongue has a cylindrical recess 28 cut partway into one side thereof, i. e., the left side, Fig. 6, concentric with the curvature of the rounded rear end 27 and the rear wall 23 of the recess. A ring or washer of suitable material registers in this recess, as shown at 29. A rectangular, non-square hole 30 is cut through the ring 29 and an aligned rectangular, non-square hole 31 is cut through the tongue. Further, a circular hole 32 is cut through the left-hand wall 20, Fig. 6, in alignment with the passage 30, 31 through the ring and the tongue, respectively. A key 33, of similar rectangular, non-square cross-section, is adapted to be inserted through the housing hole 32 to register in the passage 30, 31 with its extremity adapted to touch the right-hand wall 20. The key 33 is formed as the integral extremity of an upwardly extending arched grip 34 which normally stands upright, as shown in Fig. 2, and which, owing to the rectangular form of the key and the passage 30, 31, with the longer sides of the rectangle upright, cannot be inserted into the passage in a horizontal position.

When the cover is applied to the can, the rim 35 of the can pushes the tongue 24 upward into its extreme position, as shown in Fig. 3, and in this position the can is closed. Owing to the position of the ring 29 against the inside of the opening 32 through the housing 16, the ring provides an airtight seal of the said opening so that no air can enter the can therethrough.

Thus, with the closed and sealed can shown in Fig. 3, all that is necessary to release the cover is to tilt the lever or grip 34 toward the can, as shown in Fig. 4, whence the nose 25 on the end of the tongue pushes down the rim 35 of the can body 10. Once the cover is thus released it is easily removed.

If desired, the key 33 may be locked by any means, not shown, in the passage 30, 31, in which case it would of course be discarded with the can after the contents has been used up. Preferably, however, the key would be removable as described above, to be kept by the purchaser of a can and to be removed for use on a fresh can, so that packing, shipping and handling of the cans of shoe polish would be simplified by not having the key with its upstanding grip protrude from every housing 16.

Obviously, modifications in form or structure may be provided without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. An airtight cover releasing attachment for a container having a removable cover provided with a side wall having an opening therethrough, a hollow housing secured in said opening having an outer portion positioned outside said wall and an inner portion positioned inside said wall, said housing having a longitudinal recess therein extending through said inner portion and partway through said outer portion and terminating in a circularly rounded rear wall near the outer end of said outer portion,- said recess having opposed vertical walls, a substantially horizontal floor, and a ceiling sloping upward at an acute angle from said rounded wall to the extremity of said inner portion, a tongue of substan-' tially the same length and width as said recess positioned in said recess and having one end rounded complementarily to said rounded rear wall and registering thereagainst, said floor being cut away in said inner portion, one side wall of said outer portion having an opening therethrough in alignment with the center of curvature of said rounded wall, said tongue having a rectangular opening therein aligned with said wall opening, a key adapted to register in said aligned openings to swing said tongue through an are between the ceiling and the floor of the recess, the free end of the tongue when the tongue is positioned against the floor with the cover closed on the container pressing the rim of the container away from the cover and hence releasing the cover from the container.

2. The device set forth in claim 1, said tongue having a height substantially equal to the diameter of said rounded end thereof, the diameter of said wall opening being at least equal to the length of a diagonal of said rectangular opening. 7

3; The device set forth in claim 1, said tongue having a circular cut-out in that side thereof adjacent said one wall in axial alignment with said wall opening and of a diameter larger than the diameter of said wall opening, and a washer registering in said circular cut-out.

4. The device set forth in claim 1, said key having an upwardly extending arm adapted to extend upward closely adjacent said one wall of the outer portion of the housing, said arm having an arcuate extension from the upper end thereof adapted to curve around the upper portion of said outer portion, said key, said arm and said arcuate extension lying in a common plane, said rectangular opening having the longer sides thereof positioned at an angle to the upper edge of the tongue substantially the same as the angle between the floor and ceiling of the recess whereby when said tongue is positioned against said ceiling said plane is parallel with the axis of the container and cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,100,558 Zivanow Nov. 30, 1937 

